HIGH SCHOOLS

Zavala key: It’s Year Two of Hoppy Mumford’s rebuilding project with the Santa Paula football team and the Cardinals’ coach is touting the improvement of senior quarterback Willy Zavala.

Zavala, who will start for the third season, has thrown 14 touchdown passes and 26 interceptions in his varsity career. But after strong passing league performances, Mumford expects the three-sport participant to be one of the region’s best small-school quarterbacks this fall.

“I feel comfortable going into the season knowing we have Willy,” said Mumford, who has assigned assistant Sam Diaz as Zavala’s personal tutor.

Add Santa Paula: Linebacker Ben Martinez and center Ben Gomez, starters for Santa Paula last season, have quit the team for personal reasons, Mumford said.

Perkins gone: Roshawn Perkins, a starting guard on the Oak Park High girls’ basketball team last season, has left the school, Eagle Coach Keith Case said.

Case said Perkins, a freshman who averaged 7.2 rebounds and four assists last season, told him in May she would not return for family reasons.

Case said Perkins was unsure of which school she would transfer to, but indicated that Antelope Valley was a likely destination.

“She would have been a pivotal player for us,” Case said. “Some school is getting a hell of an athlete.”